24 Hours
by terrifying-pearl
Summary: Lance and Keith are art students, and every day, Lance can't help but stare at Keith. Maybe it's the way he sticks out his tongue a little while he's painting, or that mullet he pulls back in a ponytail sometimes...or maybe it's because he wants to kill him.
1. The Thwart

Lance studied the features of his subject. soft looking black hair, pale skin, and concentrated eyed. The man wasn't ugly-not even in the slightest, and yes, Lance could admit that. He didn't see it as a problem that he found another man attractive, he figured it just made his job easier.

The hispanic man worked as a hitman, though on occasion he'd kill just for the sake of it. No one ever peeped that it was him, because they knew that the second they did, he'd find out and give them his shit eating grin and say sayonara to them on the dot. Lance wasn't a terrible person, he was pretty chill (annoying) and had lots of friends (two or three maybe), but he needed a way to make money and he saw this as better than having to work at a strip club, but don't doubt that he considered it. Because he did.

Now back to the college student he was scoping out. Keith...he'd been watching him for a while, actually, and had always thought it'd be interesting. Keith looked so interesting, like he'd either put up a huge fight or just let it happen. And Lance wanted to find out which was true, which would be most accurate. At the same time, though, the tanned man couldn't help but want to grow closer to the other, and that was his predicament.

"HEY!" A raspy woman's voice pierced his ears. Shit, it was the headmistress.

Okay, so Lance hadn't exactly thought through his habit of crouching outside of the windows of Keith's classes. It'd gone over his head that someone might see him and think-well know-that he was up to no good. Scrambling to his feet, Lance bowed and gave a quick apology before sprinting away towards his dormitory.

As he sat down on the bed in his dorm, Lance ran a hand through his brown hair and laughed breathily. It was a little shocking to almost get in trouble like that. And yet,he felt a little rush from it.

The man laid back on the bed, staring up at the white ceiling and shaking his head. "What am I going to do?" He murmured, just to himself, of course. "I need to figure out what I'm going to do. Shiiiiiit."

Lance ended up falling asleep in the bed like that, and since he didn't have any classes that day, it didn't really matter. It was just a nap, anyway, as he woke up a few hours later at around 5 pm. He knew Keith would be heading to a coffee shop or some other bullshit place around now, so the man got up and quickly changed clothes, checking his watch to make sure it was the right time to leave and "coincidentally" run into the black haired man. The student wasn't thinking about what he was going to do when he caught up with him, exactly, but he was sure it'd be best if he at least tried to meet up with him and decide on impulse when he got there what to do.

Upon arriving at the coffee shop and, ever so coincidentally like he planned, he saw Keith. Keith didn't see him, though, as the other was scoping out the menu like he didn't know what he was going to get. Lance knew what he was going to get. He also knew there was no point in Keith checking out the board, because he always got the same thing, but since it helped Lance keep a routine, he was fine with him doing so.

The hispanic man ended up chickening out from saying anything at first because, albeit being able to kill people without feeling too much remorse, he was a bit shy to say things besides insults to Keith's face. But he didn't want to insult him today, he wanted to be smooth. Keith walked outside and down an alley he always took as a shortcut back to his own dorm, and like usual, Lance followed, whistling a little to make himself less suspicious. Of course, it made him more suspicious, but Keith pretended not to notice him at all.

Finally, Lance felt the courage build inside him and he quickened his pace to catch up to Keith. However, right before he could, three tough looking guys came up and covered Keith's mouth with a rag until he clearly passed out, then they dragged him away. The brown haired man took off after them, feeling adrenaline course through his veins as his future victim/crush was taken away by some bulky guys in a dark alley. When he'd gotten to where he figured their getaway vehicle was, he was too late. The black mercedes had already pulled away with Keith in it.

The car had tinted windows, so Lance couldn't exactly tell who was inside, and he couldn't think of anyone else who would've taken his prey. Was it a random kidnapping? He'd never seen anyone else scoping him out in all of the days, months, maybe even years that he'd been watching him, so he couldn't imagine who it would've been. He didn't doubt that others liked Keith; who wouldn't? He looked appealing, was talented at art, and despite being an idiot sometimes, was kinda smart. This was all observed on Lance's part but even so! He felt like he knew Keith better than anyone else could or ever would.

There was no known relatives of Keith's that were anywhere near the school, so that was out of the question for Lance to find. There was no ransom note left in his stead, which honestly Lance would've paid had there been one, so that was another negative. Also there was the fact that he hadn't seen Keith with any friends all of this time, so that was no help, either. No one would know anything, but still. He had to try, and he was willing to. Keith belonged to Lance, even if it was just in the latter's mind. Even he knew that the first 24 hours after a victim has been kidnapped were the most critical, and he planned on using them to the fullest extent possible.


	2. A Door is Opened

The pavement was newly wet with the rain that had begun to fall. Lance's sneakers hit the sidewalk with loud thuds with every step, breath ragged and harsh. He'd been running after the car for nearly twenty minutes, and despite being a rather fast runner, he found that it was hard to keep up. He hadn't expected it to be easy to catch them, but he also didn't expect it to be quite so hard.

Placing his hands on his knees and panting heavily, Lance stopped his pursuit. He didn't stand a chance following on foot, he recognized, and he'd left his motorcycle in the parking lot near his dorm. And so, he had to think. What else could he do to remember the car and try to find his boyfriend or victim-to-be...?

Thinking quickly, the tanned man pulled out his phone and snapped a quick photo of the car and the direction it was going. As long as he knew that, he had some hint of where he had to go and what the vehicle he'd be looking for was. 24 hours was all he had, really, and he wanted to solve this case as soon as possible.

Lance tried to think of more options that would help him figure this out. If he went to the police, they'd no doubt think he did it, because honestly, though he was rather chill in a sense, he was shady. Lance didn't really trust police, anyway, so maybe that was for the best. He could question his own friends about it, though a part of him already knew that they probably didn't even know who Keith was and wouldn't be of any assistance on that front. So he could only really think of one other thing to do.

Contact Pidge.

Pidge was the local tech geek who could probably get Lance into Keith's room no problem. There, Lance could investigate what it was Keith was into, and if he knew anyone was after him. That being said, there could be some good information in the dorm that could certainly assist with his task. The only issue would be getting Pidge to actually help him get into the room, and he wasn't sure that the nerd really would do that for him...

Then again, they were kinda friends. When they were a little younger, perhaps by two years, they were kind of forced to work together now and again since certain jobs they both had matched up. So Lance figured this might be a good opportunity for them to work together again! ...that was the excuse he was going to use, anyway. What else could he say?

"Hey, Pidge, mind letting me into the dorm room of someone I've been stalking?"

Gunderson would probably think he was insane, which wasn't too far off, so that was out of the question.

Lance shook his head and stood up straight, stretching. This entire situation was just so bizarre to him. He was positive that either someone was stalking Keith, too, or Keith fucked up and now this was coming about. It all seemed too elaborate and clean to have been pulled off by some random person. And Keith hadn't anticipated it...the kidnappers were too skilled to have been some amateurs who saw a pretty boy and said "hey, fuck it, let's kidnap someone!"

Making the long trek back to the college campus, the hispanic male went to the dorm of the one and only Pidge Gunderson. He took a deep breath, a little nervous about what he'd say and do, but knew it was probably best just to play it cool, calm, and collected. So basically, not be a wannabe suave asshole to Pidge like he was to everyone else. He had to kiss major ass, and he was ready to do that as long as it meant he could get Keith back safe and sound with each little strand of his mullet hair still on his head and his cute little tongue still attached.

So Lance could fuck everything up, of course.

Or fuck him up.

Or fuck Keith in general.

Lance snickered at his own thoughts, knocking on the door gingerly and humming. Yeah, this'd be fine. He'd play it all kind and he'd get into Keith's room. He'd have the kidnapping figured out in no time! Less than an hour! And then the boy of his dreams would be-

"...Lance?"

The brown haired male was snapped out of his daydream. Lance scratched the back of his head. laughing nervously. He was admittedly a little embarrassed to be caught off guard in such a way, but maybe it'd make him less creepy. No, quite the opposite, probably..

"Pidge! Pal! Buddy! Hey!" Lance winked. "Wanna help me with something?"

The light brown haired teen cringed. "Why would I ever in my right mind want to help you? Are you planning on killing someone and need help tracking them? If so, I'm out."

"No, no, it's not like that. I just need you to get me into my boyfriend's dorm. I left my school ID in there and he's off on vacation with his family. So, I'm in a bit of a pickle."

"Boyfriend? You?" Pidge cackled. "Oh! You almost had me for a second. See ya, Lance."

Pidge began to shut the door, but Lance stopped it with his hand.

"Seriously. Look, I'm already in trouble with the headmistress. Please, just help me, this once."

Pidge sighed and looked away, annoyed. "For real? Ugh, whatever, fine, but after this, promise me you'll leave me alone for the rest of the short time you're alive."

"Promise!" Lance cheered, hugging Pidge. "Alright, I'll lead you there. You don't have to stick around, I'm going to set up a very romantic and sensual thing for him for when he returns from visiting his family."

"Gross. Whatever, didn't need to know that, honestly."

And so, Lance led Pidge to Keith's room, and Pidge unlocked it and quickly left. Gunderson wanted no part of what Lance had said he was going to do, and so left immediately. Lance had to congratulate himself on a job well done. Now he'd be able to investigate the room in its entirety without having to break through a window or anything. But he couldn't take long. Keith didn't have very long.


	3. Discovery

Shutting the door to the dorm, Lance locked both the top and bottom locks. Just to be safe-he didn't want one of the goons to come back for him and try to tamper with what Lance considered to be a great scene of evidence. Keith's room...he hoped it'd have something to offer him. If not, at least he would know the layout for a later time where he could come back and frolic as he pleased. If Keith would still be alive then, which Lance was iffy about at the moment. As he looked around the room quickly, nothing particularly stood out to him. It seemed like a normal dorm for someone of Keith's age. A few newspaper articles about the mafia hung on the wall, broken glass on the floor, letters from someone with a vague name placed on the black mini fridge with cute bunny magnets. Normal stuff.

Lance's eyes widened. Wait. Was Keith tied up with the mafia? He wasn't sure how good of an idea delving into this was anymore, but he found that it also made things more interesting. Keith was taken up by the mafia..he'd owe Lance big if the other were to save him from his probably harsh conditions at the moment! The man grew a wide grin at the thought. Keith would be even more in the palm of his hand than he already was.

Glancing around, just for safe measures, Lance began to really investigate. He first went to the wooden coffee table to the right of him, running his hands over it with a small hum. There was a little bit of wetness on there, stained red. It was nearly fresh, though not quite, so perhaps from the night before. There had to have been an altercation, he figured. The glass could be from either a broken window or from a vase broken over someone's head. What a curious situation...

On the table was a letter. Maybe it'd been placed there before, but the weird thing Lance found was that the letter was not addressed to Keith like the ones he'd seen on the refrigerator. This one appeared to not be labeled to anyone, but still was written as if it was. The only thing it said about who was meant to read it was "Keith's savior," which Lance didn't mind being called, but he would've preferred if they'd said his real name. After all, if they'd taken the time to write a letter, they could've at least done a little research first, couldn't they?

Shaking his head and trying not to get too upset over people not saying his name, he read the letter. Skimmed over it, more like, but read it nonetheless. The gist of the letter was that they [the mafia] had taken Keith and planned on killing him tomorrow night. They said that Lance stood no chance of getting him back, and-

"Blah blah blah!" Lance hissed. "Oh, please. This is the most cliche letter..I can easily figure this out," he stated proudly.

Okay, no, he probably couldn't really figure it out. Not quickly nor easily, surely, but he'd be lying if he were to say he wouldn't try his damndest to put together all of the pieces and find out where his boyfriend-to-be had gone. All he knew so far was that Keith was mixed up with the mafia, they'd taken him, and they planned on killing him the next night. He also could interpret based on the crime scene that there'd been an altercation at the dorm the night previous, and Keith or the other person here had been injured in the said incident. But what did it all mean? What was Keith's part in this? Why was the mafia after him?

And then Lance saw the piece of paper lying on the floor by his foot. It was a clipping from a web article he assumed Keith had printed out to save a part of it. A man named Shiro had been taken and killed by the mafia. Finally...everything was put together in his mind. Mostly, anyway, though it might not help with figuring out where exactly Keith was.

Keith had lost a friend to the mafia and must've been fighting against them to get revenge. However, his plotting and fighting had gotten dirty and messy and they ended up coming after him. They'd showed up at his dorm threatening him, and he slammed whoever's head into the coffee table and kicked them out. Lance knew that Keith could fight, of course, when he wasn't outnumbered. He'd seen him at some martial arts classes not too long ago-he felt like that connected now, too, he must've been training for this. Then, today, since Keith didn't get the hint that it was wrong of him to test the mafia, they kidnapped him and planned on having him share the fate of his friend Shiro.

Pumping his fist into the air and cheering, Lance laughed in relief. Now he knew generally who'd taken Keith and how much time he had, really. The time slot he'd set for himself was mostly correct. But that really didn't help too much, there was still a lot of research and searching that needed to be done. There were a few things Lance needed to figure out before he could try to go after Keith and rescue him from his imminent doom. A. Where the most common places the mafia took people are, B. How many mafia members would be there, C. What weapons they frequently used, and D. What reward he'd push out of Keith after rescuing him. It was 7:30 pm.

Lance decided to investigate the room further. Clearly, the people who had taken him had known that whoever was set to rescue Keith (or planned on it, anyway) would visit the room looking for clues, seeing as they had left that friendly note and all. It was a situation slanted in their favor. The brown haired man could search the dorm top to bottom and only find what the people had chosen to leave for him, which could be very little or just under enough. Unless Keith had also known, which Lance highly doubted but couldn't deny that it was a possibility, in which case there could be hidden information that could be invisible to the naked eye. And to find out which probability was true, Lance would have to spend his very precious time scrutinizing Kogane's room, and honestly, that seemed like it would take far too long. He didn't have enough time to mess around and look at every little detail, so it was best to try to narrow it down to what clues would be most important.

For the given moment, Lance took it upon himself to find Keith's laptop. That in and of itself wasn't the most difficult task in the world, and he easily figured out the password since he knew what Keith liked and what his passwords were since he followed him constantly. It appeared that no one else had been on the laptop besides Keith, so for Lance, that was a positive sign.

His next half an hour was spent searching the web for clues about the mafia. Not specifically Keith's case, as no one probably figured it out yet since here they only reported someone missing after around 48 hours, which was way too much time. What he discovered was that the most notorious places were a building on the dock/pier, a heavily guarded shelter right outside of town, and lastly in an abandoned farm. Lance printed out the locations using Keith's printer, which was luckily attached to the computer with a wire and still functional. The mafia were known to use rapid firing guns and small knives that could be hidden at their sides so their victims couldn't see it coming until it was too late. his concerned Lance a bit since he was very much a person who acted on impulse, so if he charged at one of them without thinking, it could lead to him being stabbed right in the stomach and bleeding out.

Another thing he found was that the mafia were known to torture captured victims before death, and Lance didn't want to imagine Keith being hurt at the hands of someone else. Or worse things, of course, and his stomach turned when imagining them doing the unthinkable to Kogane.

"Gross.." Lance mumbled. "Mullet having sex..."

With anyone else, rather. He thought about making that part of his own payment...

Lance had a shit eating grin on his face once again, unable to completely focus on the task at hand. After a few minutes he was able to gather his bearings and get back to work. He logged out of the laptop and closed it, standing up and holding it under his arm. He was bringing it with him, just in case it'd give him more information he'd need to know in order to save Keith in the cleanest (what a joke) way possible. He was ready to fight whoever tried to stop him from getting the hothead out of there. He wanted to kick their asses and then smirk right in their stupid faces!

Returning to his own dorm, Lance grabbed a bag quickly and packed it with the laptop, some guns, ammo, knives, and the necessary papers. As he was about to ditch his room, he spotted a picture of Keith he'd taken a while ago and nodded at it.

"I'll save you. And you better not be an asshole about it, either.." He murmured, winked, and headed outside to hop on his motorcycle and drive off into the night.


End file.
